Celebrate Your Mentoring Wins – #ThankYourMentor

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January is Mentoring Month! And as you can imagine, it’s a pretty big deal here at Mentorloop. And because we’re celebrating mentoring we’re encouraging you to celebrate too!

The best mentoring relationships take time to celebrate all the victories – “the mini, micro, and macro.”

In work and in life we’re constantly looking ahead, thinking about the future. Once we achieve one goal, it’s right on to the next. We don’t tend to give ourselves time to actually reflect on those big and small wins that have been made along the way. How exhausting!

So why make time to celebrate Mentoring Month?

Because science says so!

Endorphins make you feel good. When you celebrate, your body releases endorphins in your body and you feel amazing. says “When you accomplish something and don’t take the time to celebrate, you are robbing yourself of an important feeling that reinforces your success.” – Bill Carmody, Founder and CEO of Trepoint

Teresa Amabile, Baker Foundation Professor, at Harvard Business School has looked at how life inside organisations can influence people and their performance, and found that when tracking small wins on a daily basis, it increased the person’s motivation – the smallest achievement can make the biggest difference “in how they feel and perform.” Everyone wants to feel like they’re making progress in what they do, and this is particularly important in your mentoring relationship. Whether you are the mentee or mentor celebrating the wins is one way to do this.


Strengthen Your Relationships, Deepen your Connectivity

Acknowledging progress towards an overarching goal will go a long way to keeping everyone engaged and motivated. Mentoring doesn’t look the same for everyone, acknowledging and celebrating wins together gives an opportunity for both people to continue the drumbeat of what’s going well and build a strong desire to achieve more.


How do we celebrate Mentoring Month without being cliche?

I reached out to my network to see what they said.

Write it down

Simply sitting down and writing down those wins is a way of celebrating your success. Such a simple thing to do, but what it does is brings to life the feeling of accomplishing something. This ‘sense of accomplishment’ becomes addictive and can be used to inspire you to go further next time.

Publicly Endorse

You’ve been regularly catching up with your mentoring match, kicking goals and celebrating the wins. What’s next? Well if your mentor or mentee is on Linkedin, you may want to consider giving them some skill endorsements and writing a recommendation. Such acts can make a big difference to your mentor or mentees’ personal brand, Linkedin’s recommendations could be looked as a reference, and if your mentee is eyeing up a new role or promotion – this could be a huge help.

Show Gratitude

It’s an honour and a privilege to be asked to be a mentor – an indication that you are doing something right. On the other side of the mentoring relationship for the mentee – it’s a truly exciting prospect to have a new mentor to help you navigate through career and life challenges.

Need some ideas on how to say thanks?

  1. Give them a special mention on social media – #ThankYourMentor or #ThankYourMentee.
  2. Take them out and treat them to a coffee, and ask ‘is there anything I can do for you?.
  3. Send them a note expressing your gratitude and how your life has now changed as a result of this mentorship – that’s the best thanks a mentor could hope for

Organisational psychologist Adam Grant, says that the most meaningful notes he has received from mentees came months or even years later – “It makes me feel that the time I’ve spent with them mattered.”

When you acknowledge the wins throughout your mentoring journey, the more fulfilling the experience will be for all – so take the time to stop, reflect and celebrate some of your wins today.

We’re celebrating all things mentoring at Mentorloop all this month so get involved! Share your mentoring story and show your mentor some love!

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Emily Ryan
Emily Ryan
Head of Marketing at Mentorloop. Observing tens of thousands of mentoring relationships, she is passionate about helping people get the most from their mentoring experience. When not writing, you'll find her brewing beer or globe-trotting.

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